By: Duncan S.B. No. 1669
(Truitt)
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the resumption of service by retirees under the Teacher
Retirement System of Texas.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 824.601, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (b) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as
follows:
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (b-1) or Section
824.602, a retiree is not entitled to service or disability
retirement benefit payments, as applicable, for any month in which
the retiree is employed in any position by a Texas public
educational institution.
(b-1) Subsection (b) does not apply to a retiree under
Section 824.202 whose effective date of retirement is on or before
January 1, 2011.
SECTION 2. Subsection (a), Section 824.602, Government
Code, as amended by Chapters 674 (S.B. 132) and 1359 (S.B. 1691),
Acts of the 79th Legislature, Regular Session, 2005, is reenacted
and amended to read as follows:
(a) Subject to Section 825.506, the retirement system may
not, under Section 824.601, withhold a monthly benefit payment if
the retiree is employed in a Texas public educational institution:
(1) as a substitute only with pay not more than the
daily rate of substitute pay established by the employer and, if the
retiree is a disability retiree, the employment has not exceeded a
total of 90 days in the school year;
(2) in a position, other than as a substitute, on no
more than a one-half time basis for the month;
(3) in one or more positions on as much as a full-time
basis, if the retiree has been separated from service with all Texas
public educational institutions for at least 12 full consecutive
months [work occurs in not more than six months of a school year
that begins] after the retiree's effective date of retirement; or
(4) in a position, other than as a substitute, on no
more than a one-half time basis for no more than 90 days in the
school year, if the retiree is a disability retiree[;
[(5) in a position as a classroom teacher on as much as
a full-time basis, if the retiree has retired under Section
824.202(a) or (a-1), is certified under Subchapter B, Chapter 21,
Education Code, to teach the subjects assigned, is teaching in an
acute shortage area as determined by the board of trustees of a
school district as provided by Subsection (m), and has been
separated from service with all public schools for at least 12
months;
[(6) in a position as a principal, including as an
assistant principal, on as much as a full-time basis, if the retiree
has retired under Section 824.202(a) or (a-1) without reduction for
retirement at an early age, is certified under Subchapter B,
Chapter 21, Education Code, to serve as a principal, and has been
separated from service with all public schools for at least 12
months;
[(7) as a bus driver for a school district on as much
as a full-time basis, if the retiree has retired under Section
824.202(a) or (a-1), and the retiree's primary employment is as a
bus driver; or
[(8) as a faculty member, during the period beginning
with the 2005 fall semester and ending on the last day of the 2015
spring semester, in an undergraduate professional nursing program
or graduate professional nursing program, as defined by Section
54.221, Education Code, and if the retiree has been separated from
service with all public schools for at least 12 months].
SECTION 3. Subsection (g), Section 824.602, Government
Code, is amended to read as follows:
(g) The exceptions provided by Subsections (a)(2) and
(a)(3) do not apply to disability retirees. The retirement system
nevertheless may not withhold a monthly benefit payment under
Section 824.601 if:
(1) a disability retiree is employed in a Texas public
educational institution in a position, other than as a substitute,
for a period not to exceed three consecutive months [of the school
year];
(2) the work occurs in a period, designated by the
disability retiree, of no more than three consecutive months [of a
school year];
(3) the disability retiree executes on a form and at a
time prescribed by the retirement system a written election to have
this exception apply on a one-time trial basis in determining
whether benefits are to be suspended for the months of employment
after retirement and in determining whether a disability retiree is
no longer mentally or physically incapacitated for the performance
of duty; and
(4) the disability retiree has not previously elected
to avoid loss of monthly benefits [in a school year] under this
subsection.
SECTION 4. Section 824.603, Government Code, is amended to
read as follows:
Sec. 824.603. EXCLUSION FROM CREDIT. Employment of a
retiree described by Section 824.601(b-1) or 824.602(a) does not
entitle the [a] retiree to additional service credit, and the
retiree so employed is not required to make contributions to the
system from compensation for that employment.
SECTION 5. Subsections (c), (d), (m), (p), and (q), Section
824.602, Government Code, are repealed.
SECTION 6. (a) A person who resumed employment after
retirement and whose benefit payments were suspended under Section
824.601, Government Code, as that section existed before amendment
by this Act, is entitled to the resumption of monthly benefit
payments if the person meets the requirements of Section
824.601(b-1), Government Code, as added by this Act, or Section
824.602, Government Code, as amended by this Act.
(b) The Teacher Retirement System of Texas shall resume
making monthly benefit payments to a person described by Subsection
(a) of this section on the first payment date occurring on or after
the effective date of this Act.
(c) A person who is entitled to the resumption of monthly
benefit payments under this section is not entitled to recover
benefit payments not made during the period the person's benefit
was suspended under Section 824.601, Government Code, as that
section existed before amendment by this Act.
SECTION 7. To the extent of any conflict, this Act prevails
over another Act of the 82nd Legislature, Regular Session, 2011,
relating to nonsubstantive additions to and corrections in enacted
codes.
SECTION 8. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2011.